


Wish Fulfilment

by Silvamoon



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe, Everyone is a dork, Gen, Keith is a genie
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-30
Updated: 2019-12-30
Packaged: 2021-02-27 13:15:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,921
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22037647
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Silvamoon/pseuds/Silvamoon
Summary: What does it mean to wish? Is there hope to have them granted? Keith has always been the own to give others what they want, but is there any way he can receive what he wants?
Kudos: 21





	Wish Fulfilment

**Author's Note:**

> This is my submission for Serendipity Zine, a Keith alternate universe zine. It was great being a part of this wonderful project! I do have a draft from Lance's POV that I think I will touch-up and add as part of this series.

Everyone knew the warning, ‘be careful what you wish for,’ because what you wanted might not be what you got. But how many actually listened? How many, given the chance, wouldn’t try to have their deepest desires granted? That opportunity could occur only once in a lifetime, if ever, and even then only two things usually held true: One, people tended to be greedy and ungrateful, and two, being a genie sucked.

Anyone who argued against those points had obviously never experienced eternal servitude. Keith hated the position. Between masters, he floated through the darkness of his lamp in a dream-like state. There was no hot or cold, nor hunger, but the years slipped by like that. Being summoned was the only way he could leave, and it was something he both craved and dreaded. _What will this master be like? What will they want? How long until he returned to the darkness?_ He asked those same questions almost every damn time. Well he was tired of it. Tired of wondering, tired of the hope that _maybe_ this master would answer his wish. Of–

The area lurched with a violent shake and the familiar tug of summoning ripped him out of his thoughts and his dark, little home.

Sunlight glared into his eyes through the thick, red, summoning smoke that surrounded him. While the mist cleared he started his usual introduction, he’d learned that it had a good dramatic effect, but mostly liked that it allowed time for his eyes to adjust. Speech complete, he crossed his arms over his bare chest and waited for the first wish. And waited…

“Shit!” Someone screamed.

He furrowed his eyebrows. Screams were nothing new, he’d heard them many times before, usually in terror, but this one sounded pained? A tanned man sat on the beach, hunched over and gripping his foot like a vice. What that his master? What the hell had happened? Keith repeated his instructions, uncertainty in his voice as he wondered what to do. “...What’s your wish?”

His new master looked up, seeming to completely forget about his foot so he could gape in confusion. “Who the heck are you?”

Apparently he hadn’t heard a single word. Keith brushed a stray piece of black hair back so the guy could clearly see him roll his eyes. “I already told you. I’m the genie of the lamp, here to grant you three wishes. You know the deal,” he repeated, doubting the man knew anything.

“Look here, mister. I don’t know who you are, but I’m not falling for it. I bet Pidge put you up to this. Well tell her I’m not falling for whatever this is,” the guy’s voice rose in pitch. As further proof he had no fucking clue, the idiot tried to _stand_ on his noticeably swollen foot. Keith felt neither surprise or sympathy when he crumbled to the ground with a yelp.

“Oww,” he moaned, foot clutched between his hands again. “God, what did I do to deserve this? I just wish it’d stop hurting!”

“Done.” Keith snapped his fingers without thinking. So maybe he felt a little sorry. Afterall, it was rare to see a disastrous master. Plus, he didn’t like seeing people in pain for no reason.

The effect was immediate. The guy stared at his foot in mute awe as it returned to normal. Trance-like, he stood to gingerly shift his weight to the healed leg, and smiled after realizing it didn’t hurt.

“You have two wishes left,” Keith intoned. It wasn’t as if he was in a rush to get back to his lamp, but new masters always left him feeling uneasy. There was no way to know what kind of master this was, yet.

“Wait? You did that?” his master sounded awed, and for a moment, grateful, but then he kept talking. “That shouldn’t count.”

What the hell? “Do you _want_ to be in pain?” He couldn’t believe this.

“Well, no.”

“Then two wishes is all you have left.”

God, he was just like all the others. Was it too much to expect a simple thank you? Instead, the guy was already thinking about his next wish. Keith had his own bets for what it would be.

“How about...I wish for more wishes.” The guy grinned, obviously pleased with himself.

“Not that one again…” Keith sighed. Others had tried that trick more times than he could count. Well he knew what to do. “Done.” He snapped his fingers.

The guy looked around, eyes snapping upwards in rapt fascination as the sky darkened. Thick, black clouds rolled in, thunder boomed, and a bolt of lightning flashed strong enough to split the heavens open. Then he caught sight of the black dots that appeared above and became visibly confused by the forms. That shortly turned into horrified recognition as a torrent of fish poured from the sky and smacked into everything in their path. They flopped onto the beach and kicked up piles of sand. Others flopped harmlessly into the ocean. But last, and most importantly...they fell onto his master.

Wet, squishy plops mixed with shrill screams as the fish bounced off raised arms and pooled around his feet. By the time they stopped, he stood ankle deep in a pile of fresh trout. Now, Keith had expected him to storm off, or get mad, but instead he looked disgusted and slowly picked the fish off himself one by one. It was strangely amusing to watch and Keith couldn’t stop a chuckle from escaping when his master flung the last fish away.

“That was _not_ what I asked for.” He turned towards Keith with a harumph, hands planted firmly on his hips.

Keith shrugged. “I heard you ask for fishes, so you got fish. Must have some sand stuck in my ears yet.” It was a blatant lie, but his magic allowed for technical loopholes, within reason. It came in handy for ticking masters off so he could get back to his lamp. “Last wish.”

“I’m thinking, I’m thinking. Don’t rush me.” His master waved impatiently, and he must have been stuck because he randomly asked. “What’s your name anyway?”

“My...name?” Keith faltered in confusion. No one had bothered to ask in...well he couldn’t remember. Most preferred to treat him like an object.

“Yeah, you do have one...don’t you?”

Of course he did, so why the hell did he sound so concerned? It was one of the few things he could call his own. Still it was a relief to be asked. “It’s Keith.”

His master looked thoughtful. “Hey, what would you wish for?”

Keith felt his eyebrows shoot up in shock. No one asked that and meant it. It had to be a trick. It was insane to think otherwise, no matter how genuine it sounded. “Why?” He narrowed his eyes suspiciously.

“Well, why not? I only have one left, and you messed up my other one. Maybe if it’s something you want, you’ll actually grant it.”

“You don’t want it for yourself?”

“Nah, I’m pretty good. Plus now I’m curious.” He leaned closer, and looked so sincere that Keith wanted to believe him.

“...It’s stupid.”

“Come on, just tell me. I’m sure it isn’t dumb.” He smiled brightly.

Keith scoffed. No, he wasn’t falling for it. Not again. “They all said the same thing.”

“They?”

“Everyone.” Keith waved an arm over the beach in a vague gesture. To him it spoke volumes of past experiences. So many masters who had made empty promises to get what they wanted. The ones who wouldn’t be happy even if he granted them a thousand wishes. He wasn’t sure when he had turned bitter and stopped trying to please them. There was probably no way, and no point, to even attempt explaining that to yet another who could be just like the rest. It was far easier to get this all over with. “Just tell me what you want so you can leave too.”

His master’s shoulders slumped, but he wasn’t deterred. “Hey, I don’t plan on leaving. I really do want to know. And...maybe I can help? I don’t know how you ended up like this, but it doesn’t seem like a great job to have.”

If he only knew the half of it. Still... Keith smiled at the validation, just a little.

Apparently that encouraged his master to keep talking. “Besides, it’s not like I’ll say I wish for a date with a hot chick or something dumb like that.” He laughed at the awful joke, then stopped and gasped, horrified once he realized what he had done. “Keith! No! I didn’t mean it. You know I didn’t!”

“...” What a dumbass.

Keith _did_ believe him, that he could have asked for his freedom and gotten it. But of course his luck didn’t work that way. His idiot master made an accidental wish, and no loophole could fix that. He had to grant it. With a look of pained pity, he snapped his fingers, and vanished. Leaving only a bucket of extra spicy chicken wings in his place.

* * *

He returned to the darkness with a sigh, left to float around with nothing but his thoughts. That was probably the closest he’d ever come to freedom, and he ruined it. This was why he didn’t bother with hope, all he did was give and give, but never received anything in return. Why should it be any different now?

Almost before he realized it, he felt the summoning pull again and gritted his teeth against it. It was too soon, he wasn’t ready. But that didn’t matter, it never did.

He appeared in a puff of smoke and landed among chaos. There were excited shouts and too much chatter that he couldn’t understand.. When the smoke cleared, he saw three people in front of him; a large, dark-skinned man, a short, pale-skinned girl, and the other...his recent master.

“What do you want?” He huffed, about to remind that he had already used all his wishes, when the large man was shoved forward. He cradled Keith’s lamp in his hands. So this was his new master?

“Okay, you’re up. Go ahead, Hunk.”

“Uh. Right. So…” The man cleared his throat. “I, Hunk, wish that the genie of the lamp, Keith, was free from all wish granting responsibilities.”

“Wha–?” Keith stared, wondering if this was a weird dream or some sort of joke, but his magic responded. It shifted through his body, seeking a place to stay rooted, only to slip away. Every bit went back to the lamp, the force cracking it in two. They crumbled through the hands that held them, eventually becoming nothing more than a pile of dust on the carpet.

Everyone fixated on Keith in silent anticipation.

“Did..did it work?” Hunk asked.

Keith stirred, eyes going wide as everything came into focus. He saw the warm, cozy living room with its cushioned sofas and chairs. He smelled baked goods coming from somewhere else nearby. And he felt safe, secure...and...free. “I...yes.”

The thinner man whooped and wrapped an arm around Keith’s shoulders. “Come on. We’re gonna celebrate and do something about those clothes.”

Keith frowned as he stumbled along. “–What’s wrong with my clothes?” There would be time later to process and adjust, but for the first time in a long time he could walk freely. The weight that came with being a genie was gone, and _maybe_ he had found something better than wishing.


End file.
